Heathfield Old Girls event, Thursday 11 February
Arriving by coach at the Lansdowne Club, the Sixth Form girls enjoyed meeting and talking to all the Heathfield Old Girls who shared and discussed their areas of expertise with them. It was a great opportunity for the girls to learn more about how to enter particular fields of work and to get an inside view of what it’s like to work in these areas.
The highlight of the evening was listening to Nina Campbell, Interior Designer and Heathfield Old Girl, speaking openly and frankly when interviewed ‘Graham Norton style’ by Christina Fallah, also an Interior Designer and Heathfield Old Girl. It was fascinating to learn how Nina came to start her own business and to hear about her struggles and occasional failure, as well as the persistence and resilience which ultimately led to her global success. Following refreshments, the Sixth Form returned to Heathfield.
Forms IV, V and Sixth Form Elevate Study Skills Sessions, Thursday 11 February
We were very fortunate to have Elevate come to us to present for Forms IV and V on how to ‘ace their exams’ and the Sixth Form on ‘Memory Mneumonics’. The speaker Ben Street had just finished a Philosophy degree at Exeter and shared key strategies with the girls on how to improve their results between their mock exams and their final public examinations.
In the ‘Ace your exams’ session, Ben impressed upon the girls the vital importance of practising examination papers and questions, ensuring that every girl understood where they had gone wrong, and, finally, ensuring that they were able to apply the knowledge that they had learnt.
In the ‘Memory Mnemonics’ Ben shared strategies for memorising information. It was even more impressive a session once the girls realised that Ben had used some of these ideas to learn his own presentation by rote, and having talked without notes for a full two hours, every girl was able to see the benefit. The benefits of Elevate, however, go even beyond the session. The girls are given the Elevate twitter handle for key tips leading up to the day as well as access to further resources, which was gratefully received. Now it’s just down to the girls’ hard work and perspiration!
Marina Gardiner Legge, Director of Studies
Form III Options Talk and Parents’ meeting
It’s always a nerve wracking time when girls have to face whittling down their current subjects for GCSE. Given the flux of educational qualifications at the moment, the decisions become even more important so it was no surprise that the girls have been discussing and taking advice for a while.
On Friday 12 February parents came into listen to an overview of the Educational climate as well as the options process. Girls and parents then met their teachers in order to gauge where their strengths and weaknesses lay and their thoughts for the future. Forms were handed in after half term and option blocks will be with girls and parents for final choices before the end of this term.
Marina Gardiner Legge, Director of Studies
Choir and Classics Trip to Rome, 12 - 16 February - Three glorious days of sightseeing and singing!
There truly was something for everybody on this visit to Rome, combining as it did the musical talents of the choir with a glimpse into the classical Roman civilisation of ancient times. The choir was privileged to sing at Mass in the magnificent Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore and in the famous and spectacular St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, in addition to giving a concert comprising a mixture of sacred and secular music in the hall of the Chiesa di Santa Lucia.
A credit to Mrs Dance and Miss Kong, the girls rose to every occasion, singing beautifully at each venue in spite of finding it hard to follow the words of the Mass in a combination of Latin and Italian.
Our contributions to the services were well received by the clergy and congregations in both Basilicas and the enjoyment of those attending the concert was palpable, with a number of items eliciting cries of Bravo! from a lively and enthusiastic audience. We now know that Bis! is the Italian for Encore!, which we were pleased to provide at the audience’s request. It was particularly inspiring to enjoy the encouragement of a number of parents, younger siblings and those classics staff and students not involved in the choir, as well as a good turnout of local concert-goers.
There is so much to see in the ancient city of Rome that we did not, of course, have time to visit every place of note, but we were able to benefit from guided tours of the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums, including the famous Sistine Chapel, and a relaxing, guided, panoramic coach tour of the city. In addition to these, Mr Valner and Dr Stobart shared their extensive knowledge with the group at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore and St. Peter's Basilica, at the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona.
Those of us who navigated our way to the Trevi Fountain in time threw in coins, thus contributing to the 3,000 Euros accumulated there daily. A quiz on our last night tested our concentration, listening skills and memories as we attempted to answer questions on much of what we had seen and heard, as well as our general musical knowledge.
GCSE Geographers investigate the effects of Tourism on Windsor
Heathfield Geographers recognise their luck in having Windsor on their doorstep. Each year GCSE students collect data according to a question posed by the examination board – this year the focus was on the impacts on the economy.
It was a bright, cold day and the Form IV girls were sharp and keen. An early start and tasks were soon underway to rate the different environments around Windsor Town Centre, from the River Thames to the Castle and to the main shopping areas. Looking for both positive and negative impacts, the 12 students gathered information on a wide perspective with their eye on attaining their ultimate goal: an A or A* in their final controlled assessment. Weeks of hard work lie ahead in presenting and analysing the data but the foundations have been well laid for success. Well done ‘Geog Squad’!
Basia Mason, Subject Leader - Geography
Years gone by - GCSE Geographers
Religious Study Group, Wednesday 10 February
Heathfield’s Religious Studies group travelled to Bristol in order to attend a Religious Ethics conference at Colston Hall. The conference was conducted by Dr Peter Vardy, who engaged a small room of fidgeting Sixth Formers in a fascinating discussion on the ethics and science behind a subject befitting of the run up to Valentine’s Day: love.
The specific issues delved into were those arising from Sexual Ethics, IVF, embryo research, genetic engineering, abortion and the right to a child. We participated in a lively debate on the subject of the right to have a child. The conference also covered Kantian Ethics, explained by Dr David Webster, which we found particularly helpful because it is a current topic of study. Another thing which we found beneficial was that the conference was organised in a style typical of a university lecture, so we could take away some knowledge of not only the subjects we discussed but how we could proceed in our study of them.
Sophie
Goschen (LVI)
UVI Leiths Wine Tasting, Tuesday 9 February
The UVI Leiths students attended a presentation on ‘Tasting and Pairing Wine with Food’, delivered by experienced speaker, Vivienne Franks, from Aspects of Wine Limited. She outlined where wine grapes are grown, how wine is made, the various styles of wine and how these can be successfully matched with different ingredients or dishes.
Vivienne explained how to interpret the information on the bottle label and how to store and serve wine at its best. She called tasting the wine ‘thinking drinking’ and enthusiastically led the students through the process of looking, then smelling and finally sipping. Foods representing the core tasting elements such as saltiness, sweetness, acidity and bitterness were then paired in complementary and contrasting ways with six different wines. This prompted the girls to discuss and ask numerous perceptive questions, further developing their appreciation of different wine styles and qualities, which could prove useful in any dining situation. The evening was most enjoyable and Vivienne left us all much better informed and suitably enthused.
Puff Fairclough, Teacher of Leiths Cookery
RIBI Young Musician 2015/2016 - Round 1, Tuesday 23 February
Congratulations to Phoebe Parker, Runner Up Vocalist in the Local Round of the Rotary Young Musician Competition, organised by the Ascot Rotary Club. It was a superb competition, featuring 11 performances, up to ten minutes in length.
There was unusual musical variety this year, with four vocalists, a piano, a bassoon, a violin, a cello, xylophone/snare drum, classical guitar and flute. The music was of a very high standard, as usual (the previous winner, Robert Cheung, went on to win the National round). Master of ceremonies and Ascot Rotarian, Tony Love, provided background information on the music and composers between performances, and it all made for an extremely entertaining evening for the audience. The judges had a very difficult job but praised Phoebe for her performance of Ave Maria and Poor Wandering One
Julie Dance, Director of Music
Forms I & II Research Project, 26 & 27 February
Forms I and II were invited by an undergraduate researcher from the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, to take part in a research project looking at creativity and thinking in young people. This was a fantastic opportunity for the girls to be involved with the University and it proved to be an extremely enjoyable experience.
The work the girls produced is totally anonymised, but we will be seeing a final collated version which I hope we can share with you at a later date. The finished research (including the girls’ work) will be published through the Faculty of Education.
Kathryn de Ferrer, Director of Pastoral and Co-Curricular Activities
GCSE and A Level Theatre Studies Theatre visits
One of the fundamental differences between studying a play for Drama rather than for English Literature at both GCSE and A Level is that the texts have to be studied in terms of their performance potential. Exam questions are such that it is vital that students demonstrate their understanding of the decisions that directors, actors and designers could make in order to communicate to an audience. It is therefore enormously useful to be able to go to see a live performance of a set text. So far this year the A Level and GCSE girls have been unbelievably lucky because not only have we been able to see lots of live theatre but for two of the productions we were able to have some first-hand insight into the production concepts by the playwrights themselves.
The first show was Our Country’s Good at the National Theatre back in September, which was preceded with a backstage tour and a Q&A session with the playwright, Timberlake Wertenbaker and the director Nadia Fall. The second was at the Theatre Royal in Windsor, a performance of Alan Ayckbourn’s rarely performed Confusions, which was made all the more interesting because it was directed by the great man himself! Just before the show Ms O’Connor emailed Sir Alan in the hope of teasing out some insights from him to share with the girls. Although he was not able to reply himself because of his schedule, his archivist Simon Murgatroyd sent an in-depth and informative reply that was very useful. The plays themselves are 5 interlocking playlets. Each of the plays connects to the next through one of its characters until the final one is reached with four people sitting on park benches. A good night out with lots of very useful exam fodder too!
Sioban O'Connor, Director of Drama
National School Lacrosse Championships, 29 Feb - 1 March
With bitterly cold weather conditions at times with hailstones and torrential rain the 1st, 2nd, U15 and U14 teams competed well against some of the country’s top lacrosse schools. The U14 team had successes against Godstowe’s U13 team and St. Helen’s, Northwood, whilst the U15 team shocked Berkhamsted Collegiate by winning 2-1 and then went on to draw with St. George’s Harpenden. Alex Tromans was outstanding in goal pulling off some amazing saves to keep her team ‘alive’.
The 2nd team kept their spirits high under the excellent captaining of Holly Allen and Millie Geddes who led their team by example, and, despite not winning any matches show great promise for the future.
The 1st team had victories against: Benenden’s C Team St. Swithun’s C team QAS C team and drew with King’s Canterbury
Ascot Schools’ Netball Tournament, Wednesday 1 March U14 team played fantastically well and won the plate event beating Luckley House in the semi-finals 3 - 2 and beat Edgebarrow 6 - 2 in the final. Well done!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents who have so generously donated to my Children with Cancer Justgiving page. Training is going well and I am now up to running 16 miles, despite a couple of lost toe nails. A very big thank you to you all.
Wendy Reynolds, Director of Sport
Equestrian
On 10 February four girls, Emma, Ellie, Victoria and Angelina tried out ‘Tent Pegging’ for the first time. Tent pegging is part of the military riding itinerary and involves riding with skills, including picking up 'tent pegs' with a lance whilst on horseback. All the girls loved it and it is now a weekly fixture. Apparently there is a gap in the market for team GB youth Tent Peggers, so who knows where this might lead!
Eton College invited Heathfield pupils to attend an exclusive talk by AP McCoy on the evening of 29 February. McCoy rode a record 4,358 winners, and was Champion Jockey a record 20 consecutive times, every year he was a professional. It was an incredibly interesting and entertaining evening.
Gill Glimmerveen, Equestrian Co-ordinator
Valentine’s Day card competition
Out with the excessive clichés and in with 21st century expressions of love! The girls and staff were asked to submit their entries for the Valentine’s Day card competition and we received lots of fantastic entries.
From the lower school we had a variety of entries with different atmospheres and styles, but the card that answered the brief the best was by Ellie Heywood. She showed great flair and ingenuity.
From IV and V Forms we had several entries and the first prize for these years goes to Tatiana for her incredibly skilfully crafted and imaginative card. However, the overall winner is Angela Liang. Congratulations Angela!
Mrs Leibovici , Art & Design
Seacole Weekend, 27 & 28 February
The weekend started with our 1stand 2nd teams wrapping up warmly and heading off early for a long day competing in the National Schools Lacrosse Tournament. Meanwhile, Forms I and II continued with their ‘University of Cambridge Creativity Research Workshop’ where they produced some impressive story books for children, depicting the life story of Malala Yousafzai. The rest of the school played netball or got on with their prep.
In the afternoon Forms I and II continued the creative theme of the day by making beautiful scrapbooks of their memories, family and friends, to give as gifts or keep as a record for themselves. All enjoyed this activity, arranged by Miss Bibet, and plan to keep up their scrapbooks in the future. Meanwhile Form III prepared for their social by making chocolate truffles for their guests, preparing personalised table mats for the dinner tables as well as preparing the venue. The evening was a great success and our thanks go to the wonderful catering team who prepared such a delicious supper for Heathfield and Eton before a fun disco in the theatre. The boys departed at 10.00pm and everybody was tired and ready for bed.
On Sunday the weather remained cold and crisp. A great day for walking and, after Chapel, each year group had the opportunity to join the historic walking tour of the city of Winchester with Dr Harden. They took in the water meadows around the River Test, Winchester Cathedral, School, Hospital of St Cross and The Almshouse of Noble Poverty. After a vigorous walk everybody enjoyed an opportunity for some free time to explore the city centre before returning to school for supper.
Jeanette Kemp, Head of House - Seacole
